Free Devil's Food Cake by Josi S. Kilpack Page B

into a reporter.”
    “There are dozens of reporters here,” Pete said, putting one hand in his pocket. Even though she couldn’t see it, she knew it was clenched in a fist. “If you would leave, they’d stop bothering you.”
    “She wasn’t bothering me,” Sadie said, hating his dismissive and annoyed tone. She knew it seemed as though she kept sticking her nose in the case, but she wasn’t doing it on purpose. “Well, I mean she was bothering me, but that’s not my point. She said—”
    “Detective Cunningham?”
    Pete turned to look up at one of the men on the stage. The man had a thin face and heavy eyebrows in serious need of a trim and which served to give him a decidedly severe look. He wasn’t in a uniform, but Sadie felt sure he was very important all the same. Maybe he was a plainclothes detective, like Pete.
    The man lifted his eyebrows in an unspoken question: Were they going to get on with their discussion or not? Sadie expected the man wasn’t the type who took well to waiting. She could relate and hoped he could count to ten or something. She put her hand on Pete’s arm to get his attention. If she could just get the words out, she could leave and go home like Pete had asked.
    “This reporter,” Sadie said. “Ms. Jane, she’s—”
    “Look,” Pete said, cutting her off. He attempted to smile, perhaps to soften his tone, but the stress and strain of the situation made the smile rather ineffective. “The medical examiner just arrived from Fort Collins and the captain is here. I really can’t talk to you right now.” He looked over his shoulder at the two men who had gone back to their discussion. A discussion Pete obviously wanted to be a part of.
    “But you need to know that this reporter—Jane Seeley from the Post —is here. She’s inside the hotel.” Sadie leaned close to him and whispered the rest of what she had to say. “She was supposed to meet with Mr. Ogreski tonight.” She pulled back, nodding knowingly. That was important information, right?
    Pete looked at her, not registering any enthusiasm for what she’d said. “Okay,” he said tightly, “I’ll take care of it.”
    The flippancy was impossible to ignore. “Did you hear what I said?” Sadie asked. “A reporter is here. She came in through the kitchen when I was taking cakes out to my car—”
    That got his attention. “The doors are supposed to be locked,” Pete said.
    “Well, I had to unlock it so I could take my cakes out,” Sadie said, though she was reluctant to admit she’d been part of the reason Jane had come in. “But I didn’t let her in,” Sadie hurried to explain. “In fact I told her she couldn’t come in. But then I turned to put the cake in the car and she snuck inside.”
    Pete’s jaw clenched, and he didn’t speak for a few moments.
    “I’m sorry,” Sadie said. “And I’m going home, but I wanted to make sure you knew about Jane being here.”
    When Pete spoke, his voice was tight. “Go home, Sadie,” he said, and she suddenly felt like a disobedient puppy. “Your interest in this case is not normal and it has been noticed. You are creating a problem that is becoming an issue.” He nodded slightly over his shoulder at the man with the wiry eyebrows. “I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”
    Sadie didn’t know what to think so she just nodded and turned away, feeling foolish for interrupting Pete in the first place, especially if people felt she was interfering. She wasn’t trying to be a bother; she was just trying to do the right thing. And Pete didn’t seem to even care about Jane. It didn’t matter that Jane was in the building and that Sadie had been the one ordered to leave? Humph.
    Go home, Sadie. Pete’s words repeated in her mind, and she was determined to do exactly that. She didn’t want to talk to Pete or anyone else anymore. Nothing was going to get in her way. She would take Gayle home where she’d relieve Shawn’s worries and leave this whole case behind.